(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a video contents analysis, segment indexing and retrieval technology, and more particularly, a method to provide segment indexing and highlights containing simple audio and video features.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
More and more attention is given to the content-based video indexing, retrieval and data management and the research results in these areas have been comprehensively applied in digital library, non-linear video indexing and video-on-demand service areas; particularly when applied in the analysis of sports video, it is found in observing the audio information of sports video data gives more benefits and better precision in event detection than the visual analysis does.
For example, basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world. A great number of professional and amateur games are played through the year. However, people may not wish to spend a couple of hours watching the entire game. They are just interested in the editing of attractive clips, e.g., wonderful offense and defense, arresting fouls and crucial time-out, etc., making the basketball highlighting an attractive multimedia application. Furthermore, basketball and similar games share many common features including the noise environment of the field when the commentator's live coverage is usually overwhelmed by the audience cheers when exciting moments take place.